JAG  The Definitive Love Story
by TheGummiBear
Summary: Lieutenant Gregory 'Vic' Vukovic, the most under appreciated JAG officer of the series. Brown hair, blue eyes... Dream boy with a murky history when it comes to love, and an even murkier present.


JAG- The Definitive Love Story.

Summary: Lieutenant Gregory 'Vic' Vukovic, the most under appreciated JAG officer of the series. Brown hair, blue eyes... Dream boy with a murky history when it comes to love, and an even murkier present. Will he alienate every female in and out of JAG, or will he find the love of his life? Has he found her already and she just doesn't know it? Has his only chance at true love slipped from his grasp?

Vic once hinted at a failed marriage, will he and Mac find a commonality? Is Harm and Mac's relationship in danger? Or is there another surprise in store for the couple? And what role do Bud and Harriet play in this turn of events? What is the role of the drug smuggler and the illegal dog? Find out in... 'JAG- The Definitive Love Story'.

Disclaimer: JAG characters, so not mine. You think I have that much money? Any characters you do not recognise are either mine, or someone you failed to notice during the series either because your brain is too small to recognize the vast importance of the supporting cast / bit-part actors or because you simply weren't paying enough attention. Take your pick.

Chapter One- The 'New' JAG.

Harm looked around the office he had never expected to see again, marvelling at its seeming inability to change no matter who its owner. From Admiral Chegwidden, through to General Cresswell, and now to Harm, the office had remained basically the same, only the pictures and knick-knacks on the desk changing. When the call from the General had come, announcing that he would be taking Harm's place in England, giving his family a fresh start, and that Harm would be becoming _the_ Judge Advocate General of the Navy, no one had been more stunned than Harm. In fact, Mac had declared that she had known all along that this would happen and neither of their careers had ever been in real jeopardy, although Harm privately thought that both their careers had been saved only because he had won the toss. Still, Harm's position held a lot more power and status than Mac's ever would.

The main thing was that their relationship and prospective marriage would hopefully survive without bringing one of their successful careers crashing down around their ears. For this, Harm would be eternally grateful to General Cresswell; he wasn't sure that Mac would have been able to place him before her career, and, frankly, he wasn't sure he would have wanted her to. Obviously, he didn't want to sacrifice his career, but at least he had an alternate option, he wasn't sure that Mac could adjust to civilian life the way he could. It just wasn't her.

Although his stab at a civilian life had ended in returning to the service, he had been asked back, he could have easily carried on working for Grace Aviation. That would, he pondered, have solved a lot of problems, stopped an accident that had changed a young girl's life for ever; it would, however, probably have destroyed any hope of a relationship that he and Mac had possibly had at that time. So, in retrospect, maybe it wasn't such a bad turn of events. Here he was, about to marry the woman of his dreams in the next couple of months, and holding the highest position a naval lawyer could ever really hope to hold- something that, apparently, everyone but him had supposedly known he could and would achieve. Personally, he thought this enlightenment had happened around the time he had received General Cresswell's call, but he kept that to himself; it wouldn't do to ruffle any feathers this early on in the game. He had a decent staff, a fiancé that most men would envy him, and a prestigious position. Singer would be proud of him. Or jealous.

With Mac now working in San Diego, both had to commute to work in the morning and evening, but a steady stream of coffee kept them both awake enough to enjoy their time together. The wedding was scheduled for a date in the next three months which Harm had to shamefacedly admit he kept forgetting, and they had recently bought a house between DC and San Diego from which they could easily have breakfast together and be at work on time. The perks of their higher rank and powerful positions meant they could arrive half-way through the day and as long as all their work was done and all their appointments attended, no one batted an eyelid. Harm's staff had thinned and then expanded again, and was now, mostly by luck, partly by choice, mostly formed from his closest and most trustworthy friends. Commander Sturgis Turner was now senior lawyer, a choice which had both surprised and pleased the rest of the staff, with Commanders Bud Roberts and newly graduated lawyer Commander Jack Keeter making up the rest of a three man team. Commander Gregory 'Vic' Vukovic was partnered with Commander Meg Austin, whose return to the office had both shocked and pleased Harm, and, making up the rest of the staff were Lieutenant j.g Jen Coates, another recently graduated lawyer, Commander Harriet Simms and Petty Officer AJ Roberts, newest addition to the staff.

Since Mac had agreed to marry him, Harm's attitude had changed significantly, and, not only were he and Sturgis on speaking terms again, but he and Vic were also, to everyone's amazement and slight awe, becoming close friends. Harm showed no jealousy at Vic's friendship with his old partner, instead recommending that they become partners and work together on many investigations. Their jobs had becoming increasingly dangerous with the war in Iraq escalating and he confessed to being glad that Meg had someone trustworthy watching her six, to which she had punched his arm and advised the Captain that now would be a good time to 'shut his trap', a suggestion that he had hastily complied with to much amusement.

Harm ran a hand through his brown hair, now as long as it had been when he first met Meg, eleven years ago. He'd slimmed down, and was now back to his skinny, almost anorexic, look, drawing glances from more than a few women. Mac, of course, hadn't lost any of her penchant for jealousy, and, while she appreciated her husband's new look, was secretly rather annoyed by the attention he was earning because of it.

" Thank God Krennick's not still around." Was all Meg had to say when questioned on this matter, leading Harm to believe that she too appreciated his effort to slim down, finding it attractive in the way he had intended.

Harm's leadership style was different to the previous Judge Advocate Generals, shown by the way he now stuck his head out of his office door and yelled across the bullpen, " Sturgis, Keeter, my office now!"

AJ looked up from his desk and sighed, knowing that there was no point in informing his godfather that there really was no need for him to bother even exiting the office to call his officers. Harm grinned at the young petty officer, " Yeah, yeah, I know. I could've asked you to get them. You want the job, you have to ignore the idiosyncrasies of the commanding officer. Especially when he's your Godfather."

AJ grinned back, " Yes sir." He replied with an exaggerated eye-roll, tossing off a mock salute.

" Ya know kid, you could just ask AJ to get us, poor sod never does anything round here any more." Keeter said, ambling up to the office door.

Harm just raised an eyebrow in protest to the use of the word 'kid' while AJ exploded indignantly,

" Wha'd'ya mean 'nothing'? I'm swamped under as it is!" He indicated his empty desk, " See the towering piles of case files just waiting to be filed?"

The four men laughed, Sturgis having now joined them, and Harm said, " Oh, if only General Cresswell could see his office now. The lack of discipline would drive him nuts!"

" Hey!" Sturgis replied, " We're more efficient than you lot ever were!"

Keeter smirked, " If I remember correctly Sturg, you've been here longer than that." He commented, smirking.

Quickly changing the subject, Sturgis asked, " Is there a reason our esteemed commanding officer considered it a good idea to disturb the quiet working atmosphere of the office so intrusively?"

" Oh, yeah, right." Harm said, sending the others into peals of laughter, which he quickly silenced with a glare, reminding them who was in charge, and led them into the officer, shutting the door behind them. He walked round behind his desk, grabbing a case file from the top of the tottering pile on his desk, tossing it to Sturgis who fielded it neatly, none of the contents escaping, though he shot Harm a look that said he disproved of his commanding officer's antics, although he softened it with a smile.

" Guy called Lieutenant..." Harm flicked through his own copy of the documents, " John Warren was arrested yesterday on suspicion of smuggling drugs into Washington. Unfortunately for the Navy, he did turn out to have several kilos of Marijuana in his luggage. Keeter, you'll defend, Sturgis, you'll prosecute. Any questions?"

The two men shook their heads, so Harm dismissed them, and, standing to attention, they saluted, turned smartly on their heels, and left.

Shaking his head, Harm gathered up his papers, stuffed them in his briefcase, deciding that it was time to call it a night, and headed out of the office, saying goodnight to AJ who was also packing up for the day. Waving to Sturgis and Keeter who were both already slaving over their computers and glared at him viciously, he met Meg and Vic who were also calling it a day and leaving early having just closed a big case, where, after four weeks of investigation and one week in court, in turned out that no crime had actually been committed, and the three stood waiting for the elevator to arrive, chatting. As they left the building, Meg was telling Vic a story about one of Harm's more laughable incidents from their time as partners, involving the Cubans, a plane, and a totally unbelievable story about an Ambassador and a heart attack. Vic and Meg were almost bent double with laughter, and Harm was vehemently denying most of the story, claiming that Meg was embellishing the story in so many ways. The three lawyers split at their cars, Harm getting into his bright red corvette, his pride and joy, turning up the radio with a jazz station on, right as Vic did the exact same thing, once again highlighting their similarities. The two men looked at each other and burst out laughing, while Meg looked between them, her expression a mixture of incredulity and horror.

" Oh God. Now there's two of him." She said to herself wonderingly as she drove out of the parking lot.

Arriving home, Harm found the door locked and the lights of; Mac wasn't home yet. That was fine with Harm, he enjoyed his space as well as her company. He liberated his guitar from the corner of the front room from behind the stacks of files that both he and Mac brought home from their respective offices, and, after making sure he finished all the washing up for Mac, sat down to tune the instrument which he hadn't used for a couple of weeks now. By the time Mac finally got in, he had finished and was well into cooking dinner for the both of them. The first indication that she was home was when her slim, tight arms slid round his waist and her lips nuzzled his neck. He relaxed into her embrace, enjoying the feel of her body close to his for a moment, before turning around and gathering her into a hug. " Hey." He whispered.

" Hey yourself." She replied, ruffling his hair and planting a soft kiss on his lips, leaving him yearning for more, " I'm gonna change, then I'll set the table for you."

" Great. Thanks ninja girl."

" My pleasure flyboy."

After a simple yet romantic dinner of Harm's famous half-meat, half-vegetable lasagne; Mac had banned all meatless meatloaf from the house; they curled up on the couch in front of the television, and Mac noticed the guitar leaning against the wall and commented softly, " Nice to see you getting that old thing out again."

" It is not an 'old thing'!" Harm protested, " It is a lovingly kept instrument in perfect condition."

Mac eyed the guitar, with it's stripped strings and scratched body, " Yes..." She said dryly, raising one perfectly shaped eyebrow, " Of course."

They grinned at each other, and Harm curled up, his head in her lap, to watch and fall asleep in front of a series of random, unimportant and uninteresting late night television shows. It was nights like this, Mac pondered as she sat awake, running her fingers through Harm's long brown hair, that demonstrated to her why their relationship would succeed. They didn't need much to turn an ordinary evening into something special. All they needed was each other. Plus one of Harm's home cooked meals. She laughed softly at this and Harm woke up, staring into her eyes, love evident in his gaze.

" What's funny?" He asked, blearily.

" Nothing." She replied, " Sorry I woke you."

" No worries." His dark brown eyes suddenly sparkled with energy, " What say we move this to the bedroom Miss MacKenzie?"

" I think that could be managed Mr Rabb."

Meanwhile, Vic was having a totally different experience. Now owning an apartment in Harm's old block, he was sitting in a booth in McMurphy's bar, a beer in front of him, untouched. He knew he gave the impression at work that he had a girl every night, but more often than not, he spent the evening getting drunk, not picking up any girls, good looking or otherwise, and going home to an empty apartment and a hangover in the morning. Tonight, after leaving JAG, he had considered calling round to see if anyone was free, but he imagined they were all at home with their various partners and kids. Anyway his only real friends at JAG were Harm, Meg, who was asleep, and Jen, whom Harm had sent off to Iraq that morning to prosecute a soldier who had smuggled his dog in country. So tonight he was alone. Again. He was just about to get up and leave, as he seemed to have no inclination to drink his beer, when a girl slipped into the booth across from him. Taken by surprise, he blinked, sat back, and, his eyes narrowing, asked, hoping that his voice would not betray his nervousness, " What the hell do you want?"

She leant across the table, a teasing smile on her face, " Vic, really, you must know by now."

" I've got nothing to say to you Alicia." He got up, throwing a bunch of cash on the table, hoping it would cover the drink.

Her hand closed over his, and she pulled him back sharply, " This isn't over."

" This was over a long time ago." Snatching his hand away, he turned and left, refusing to turn his head and look back to see her reaction.

Alicia Sneddon had been the best and worst thing that had ever happened to Greg Vukovic. She had long blond hair to her shoulders, blue eyes, and a penchant for mischief. She also had a habit of leaving men at the altar. More specifically, she had dumped him on the morning of their wedding for the town undertaker of all people. She was as beautiful as she was evil and Vic knew, if he ever had a chance, he could fall into a bottomless pit of yearning and desire over her. That was not going to happen. Whatever was going on in her life, he was determined not to be dragged in. It was her problem, not his. Right? As he was leaving the bar, checking behind him to make sure Alicia wasn't following him, Vic ran into another old friend, " Casey! What the hell are you doing here?"

Casey Martinez put an arm around his shoulders, guiding him back into the bar, " Helping out a couple of old friends, man."

By the time Vic realised he had been set up, he was back in the booth, sitting opposite Alicia. Turning to Casey, he said, " So, this is what a ten year friendship ends in, huh? Backstabbing and betrayal?"

Casey held a calming hand out, patting the air quietly, in a manner that Vic felt approached patronising, " Wait 'till you hear what she has to say."

" Fine." Vic said, sitting back in his seat, " Bring it on."

" What the hell were you thinking Vic?!" Vic was sitting on the edge of a bed in Bethesda Naval Hospital, Harm and Mac standing in front of him, hands on their hips and annoyed expressions on their faces.

" I guess I wasn't. Sir." Vic replied, looking directly into his commanding officer's eyes to show that he was telling the truth, " I'm sorry."

" Yeah, well, at least this time you're the only one who was hurt and neither of the civilians will press charges." Harm's tone and gaze softened a bit, and he sat down next to Vic, " What happened?"

Mac watched the two men as they sat next to each other, their thick brown hair, their soulful eyes that had seen more than their ages should have allowed, their fit bodies... Mac shook her head, okay, she wasn't even going to go there. Not with Vukovic anyway. She yawned, " If you two boys will excuse me, I'm going back to bed. I don't think I'm needed here any more."

" Hey!" Harm called after her as she walked away, a small smile on her face, " Ya think she realises she has the keys to the only car we brought?"

" I expect so sir." Vic said with a grin.

" Never get married Vic. Now what's this about?"

" Well, technically, you aren't married sir, and, well, that's kind of what this is about. In a way. Marriage I... I mean."

Harm had never seen the young Lieutenant tongue-tied before, he guessed the young man was still in shock, "Yeah Vic?"

" Okay, so the two civilians? The girl's my ex-fiancé, Alicia, and the guy's my 'best friend', Casey. I was in McMurphy's and I sort of got roped into talking to them. Turned out all they really wanted was to beat me up." He looked down at the floor, " I really wish I knew why. She left me, not the other way around. For an undertaker!"

Harm looked at him, " What is it with girls and undertakers?"

Vic shook his head, " Wish I knew, man. You too, huh?"

" Yeah, well, I hadn't actually proposed yet."

" You were going to?"

Harm grinned, " I was thinking about it, yeah."

Suddenly serious, Vic looked up at him, " You want their names Captain?"

" You want to press charges?"

" No."

" Then why would I want their names?"

Vic smiled, " Thank you sir."

" No problem Lieutenant. Get some rest while I try and catch up with Mac. Don't worry about coming in tomorrow, I'm sure we can live without you for a day. After all, you just closed a big case."

" Yes sir."

" I mean it hotshot, stay home."

Vic was too tired to do anything but repeat his last statement, " Yes sir."

**Thank you for reading- this fic was a long time in the making- hope it's up to scratch. **


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